Powerhouse
by FreeThinker111
Summary: Stevie Hansen was an almost normal teenager living a normal life in Boston, unbeknownst to her she's the daughter of everyone's favorite millionaire and genius, Tony Stark, fate didn't want her to be just that, follow her, as she becomes Powerhouse, the superhero who will shock the world, both literally and figuratively speaking.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes**

 **My second fic is finally here!\o/\o/. So there's this weird fantasy I always had of writing a comic book, but since I draw like a toddler, and Marvel is probably not going to hear my pitch, I've decided to take action. I'm finally living the dream (sorta). Rated T?. I don't know how rating works very well here, so you guys tell me if it's ok or not. This story passes on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, using some elements from the comics, the movies and the cartoons, but since it's mainly about my OC, I'm not sure if it's going to matter which category I put it. Also don't forget to review. Enough with the talk let's get to it.**

 **I don't own the rights to any of Marvel characters, they obviously belong to Marvel.**

 _ **Chapter 1 - Prologue**_

It was a sunny day in Malibu, the air was hot and dry, Tony Stark was on his garage, working on a new project, a new armor, that using only gestures of his body, would assemble, it wouldn't be as powerful as one of his regular suits, but it never hurts to be prepared against aliens, wizards, crazy gods and who knows what else could be knocking at his door trying to disturb the peace, or kill him, or both, besides, it's how he mostly spent his time anyway, work, work, work. He sipped some coffe from his mug.

"Ahh, nothing tastes better then a bitter mug of coffee with no sugar in the morning". He sarcastically said, throwing it on the modern trash bin next to his worktable. He then proceeded with his work, he made a gesture with his arm, and pieces of his armor across the room flew like little rockets and came to his hand assembling into a gauntlet, he smiled at his progress, what came as an idea when he was drunk in a party with his long time friend, Col. Jim Rhodes, was turning into reality. Soon, he would present the new tech to his friend, so the veteran would pay a drink for him later.

"Sir, we have a woman at the gates wanting to talk to you. She says that she is a friend". The disembodied voice of Stark's loyal household butler, J.A.R.V.I.S. played.

"Good morning to you too Jarvis, is she any hot or dangerous?". Tony replied not looking away from the gauntlet he was analyzing.

"While I'm not sure about the standards of a human's 'hotness' and she demonstrated quite a knowledge about you, she does not look like she could pose a threat, sir". The butler answered.

"If she's dangerous she might kill me, if she's hot then Pepper might. Send her in".

"As you wish sir". He was still testing his new armor around, he aimed the gauntlet at a beer bottle.

"Alright, testing Mark Seven's hand repulser, set to twenty-three percent of full capability, aaand". the gauntlet adjusted to Tony's command and then fired a burst of hot blue light towards it, leaving only shards of melted glass where the bottle once was, he was grinning at his latest invetion sucess. _It gets the job done_. He thought, he got up from his chair and started making his way to the front door, where his misterious guest would be waiting for him. After he got to the main floor he was met by a not so tall woman, not tall enough to be a model, which then, discarded the option of being one of the many models he slept with during his years of hard partying. She had light blue eyes that were filled with worry, she had some bags under them, brown wavy hair that was a little messy, she looked like she was on her late thirties, if Tony had to guess, she didn't have much sleep, she was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he met her.

"Hello Tony, long time no see". She spoke with a calm voice.

"Yeah, long time no see... umm". He replied, trying really hard to remember where did he met her or what her name was, to avoid making this conversation more umconfortable and weirder than it already was.

"You don't even remember me, do you? Should have guessed that". She sighed with a disappointed look on her face, for some reason Maya Hansen counted on him being more, she didn't know the word, attentive, heedful, less of a douche.

"What can I say? It was years of partying and getting drunk". He tried to be casual, it was a good approach on his head, to not let this situation escalate.

"Let me help you, Bern, Switzerland, New Year's Eve party, you still wore those ridiculous sunglasses and we-".

"Yeah, yeah, I remember what we did". Stark hurriedly said as he remembered the party, he was young and more douchy (if that was even possible). He remembered how he flirted with the responsible and young scientist, and how they both hooked up that night, and when the sun rose, he left her, forever, without even saying a goodbye. By just thinking about the probable reason she was here, he could already feel a headache coming, he massaged his temples and said.

"Please don't tell me there's a thriteen year old boy waiting on a car outside and that you two need money".

"It's more complicated than that Tony... and she's sixteen". _Goddamit_. He cursed mentally.

"How much do you want and can I meet her now?". Tony Stark was many things, a genius, an avenger, a millionaire, Iron Man, but he never could have expected to be a father, he viewed that as a very unpleasant situation that he needed to face, and since this girl was his daughter, might as well help her and meet her.

"I've already told you Tony, it's more complicated than that". Maya said, both of them heard someone coming down the stairs, a ginger woman with green eyes rubbing them came into the main living room, she had a very formal stance even though she was still wearing a nightgown.

"Tony, did you leave the-". She stopped when she noticed an attractive strange woman standing on her living room talking to her boyfriend, she glared at Tony and turned her look to the brown-haired woman.

"You must be the infamous Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, CEO of Stark Industries". She raised her hand for a handshake, Pepper accepted it, just for the sake of formalities, she then asked Tony trying not to look rude to the woman but with her eyes telling, 'what the hell is she doing here?'.

"And who is she supposed to be?".

"Pepper, meet Maya Hansen, we've attended to a New Year's Eve party and we... umm, it was a long time ago". He half-answered trying to find the right words, Pepper didn't look so understanding, Maya tried to help Tony out.

"It was a long time ago, you know how he was back then". The ginger still with the fake smile plastered on her face looked to Tony and spoke.

"I know perfectly what you are talking about". He scratched the back of his neck. "So you have a kid". Pepper guessed, Tony tried to be funny by imitating the brown-haired woman.

"It's more complicated than that". Maya gave him an annoyed look. "So tell me what's so complicated Maya, why can't I meet her?".

"Because she's in Boston". The woman answered.

"Why, after all these years, do you decide to show up now?". Pepper asked, curious about the scientist's true intentions, Maya looked, feeling a mixture of guilt and concern, she chose her words very carefully, she needed Tony, many things were at stake, including her daughter's safety.

"Because I don't know who else I can trust". After she finished her sentence, Tony's playful attitude and Pepper's formality disappeared, replaced by genuine concern, what could she mean by that? What did she do? That and a lot of other questions were raised by the blue-eyed woman standing in front of them.

"Maya, what happened?". The ginger asked with worry on her voice, she didn't know the woman, but she wanted to protect her, Maya didn't know how to react, she needed some relief from the pressure she was facing the last week, and it looks she finally found a good soul to count on, she half chuckled and half sighed nervously.

"God, where to start?".

"How about the beginning?". Tony bluntly said, Maya obediently nodded, understanding what he was after. Stark wasn't liking this one bit, he wanted her to be objective, he needed to know what could be threatening them, were they coming after them? His daughter? He felt a little bit surprised that even though he didn't meet her, he already wanted to protect her.

"Ok". The brown-haired sighed. "Do you remember Extremis? The project I was working on?".

"The one who was supposed to make people grow limbs back, but didn't work?". He replied.

"Tony, it works". She said, dead serious. "It works too well for our own good". Tony shifted his weight, indicating his interest. "First, I used viruses to rewrite the genetic code on a living being's cells, it told them to regenerate his wounds no matter how deep they were-". She was cut off by Tony.

"But it didn't work, it was unstable, sometimes the limbs didn't fully grown or didn't heal, am I correct?". Pepper looked at him then looked back at Maya, waiting for her confirmation about Stark's statement with her green eyes, the scientist nodded and in a defeated tone she admitted her project's flaws.

"Yes, some time after we, umm, met, my research got into a dead end, they cut off my fundings, and so I had to find another company or person that would invest on my project, I tried convincing many of them, but they would always answer the same thing, Extremis was nothing more than just that, a project, I was becoming desperate, didn't have money, I was two months late on rent and a baby on the way, when, like an angel falling off the sky, this man approached me and said he was interested by my project and wanted to see it succeed, he said he was going to afford my apartment, food, everything else I needed, and after I had my baby I would start working for him and a group called The Brotherhood".

"What an altruist soul". Tony sarcastically said, Pepper felt bad this woman had too experience this, Maya started speaking again.

"When I started my research again, he told me through one of his employees to concentrate on the brain cells instead of the body, and it worked, however, the viruses would multiplicate too exponancially and they would kill the living being within minutes, when I reported to the employee about the results, he demonstrated to already know what would happen, he asked me to meet him on the docks, I did that, they blindfolded me and brought me to some kind of underground lab, it looked like they were after the same thing, they were using electricity instead of the virus to rewrite the DNA of the brain's cells, the results were...". Maya didn't know how to describe them, she remembered how it looked, rodents and monkeys with enhanced physical abilities, developing primal intelligence, and then she saw what could happen to humans, it was like the work of a god. "Amazing, it not only granted them the ability to heal from these wounds but also enhanced their speed, strengh, reflexes, everything, and the worst thing of all, it gave them... powers, superpowers". Tony couldn't help but laugh.

"It's very funny Maya, you come in and say that you found a way to make everyone like Bruce Banner or the Scarlet Witch".

"Tony, I already told you it works, I saw, with my very own eyes, a man being smashed by a car and walk it off like nothing happened, and an elder lift a steel beam with his mind". She pointed at her head, in an attempt to intensify her statement.

"So you are saying if I put a plug on my head, then all of a sudden I'll have superpowers". He argumented.

"Not any kind of electricity, neuro-electricity". She answered.

"You mean the energy our brain produces?". Pepper asked, she wasn't well educated on scientific knowledge, but she knew what Maya meant.

"Exactly, this electricity only works with people that have a certain gene, we called them powercells".

"Powercells?". Tony asked.

"In my opinion, it sounded better than sucessful test subjects". She replied. "I truly believed that what they were doing at first was good, but then...".

"But then, you saw how easily this project turned into a weapon". Tony completed, he had built weapons his whole life, that feeling of building something terrible was very familiar, Pepper wanted to say something, but right now, she thought it was best to listen what the woman had to say.

"Yeah, the neuro-electricity of rodents and monkeys wasn't enough to fully unlock a powercell's potential, so they started using humans, it would kill them in the transference of the energy, and the results were what I said, superhumans with superpowers, they saw how efficient it was, and then they forced me, they forced me...". Maya felt like she couldn't go on anymore, Tony was getting impatient.

"Forced you to do what?! What have you done Maya?!". Pepper looked at him she said with her expression, 'you need to calm down'.

"They...". She stopped staring past Tony with an expression of shock, Pepper followed her look and the same shcked expression was on her face, Stark sighed.

"Let me guess, there is something very menacing behind me, outside that window, that looks like it's gonna kill us". He turned his head to face an armored chopper with no painting and two machine guns on it's sides ready to fire at the three. "Oh boy". Tony spoke, he quickly gestured and the pieces of the armor he was working on came flying from the garage, the helicopter started shooting, he gestured again making the armor assemble around the ginger's body as he tackled maya to hide under a coffe table, Pepper's safety always came first to him. Bullets were flying everywhere, making a very nice redecoration on Tony Stark's living room, the chinese pottery that once embellished the manor was turned to nothing more than just shards of ceramic, the white walls where filled with bullet marks, the big LED TV of 75 inches was shattered into pieces, and some of the steps of the Italian wooden staircase were gone, that place could be easily mistaken for a battlefield on the Middle East. Finally like what it felt like hours, the chopper finally stopped shooting.

"My turn". Tony said, he made another gesture, and the armor that was protecting Pepper assembled on his body, he was now ready to show the way out to these incovenient intruders. "Pepper, take her to the saferoom NOW!". He said with his mettalic voice, she nodded and helped Maya get up, the redhaired was still barefoot, she was careful to not step on any glass shards or something that might hurt her feet.

"Let's go!". She said to the frightened scientist, soon they were nowhere around.

"Alright you morons, let me knock on your door now". A blue burst of light came from his hands and his feet making him propel foward like a missile towards the helicopter, he made contanct with the vehicle, he hugged the front part of it and pushed it back, far away from his mansion, he then flew to the side of the chopper and yanked the door open.

"Let's talk". Iron Man said, menancingly. They were wearing gas masks and black leather outfits, one of them grabbed a pistol and shot him, the bullet simply ricocheted, Tony sighed. "You guys just simply don't know how rude this is". He raised his gauntlet to the ceiling and then fired, an explosion that sent the helicopter's blades flying, set the whole thing ablaze, the big hunk of flaming steel then fell, making a big splash when it hit the sea. Tony didn't care about who or what was inside, they tried to kill him, the mother of his daughter, and his girlfriend at his home, and that he could not forgive. He noticed something coming at his direction fast, it was someone in a grey version of Stark's suit, War Machine, also known as Col. Jim Rhodes.

"Sorry pal, looks like you're too late for the party". Tony said as his mask opened, so did Jim's.

"I heard your home was under attack, I came as fast as I could, are you ok?". The veteran asked concerned about his friend's safety.

"Had a bad coffee on the morning, working on some things, people trying to kill me, you know, Thursday". He sarcastically answered.

"Something like this happens and you still joke about it? Gotta be honest with ya, sometimes you act so relaxed it scares me Tony". Stark chuckled a little, they were both flying to his mansion on the hill, when Iron Man broke the silence.

"D'you remember that tech I talked about on that party last week?".

"You gotta be kiddin-". He was interrupted by the sight of Tony's gauntlet disassembling and flying around him, like it was teasing him, the inventor had a smirk on his face, like he just won a bet.

"Why don't you make cool shit like that to me for my birthday?!". Jim complained.

"Hey, I thought you liked my cheap colognes". Stark exclaimed insulted, of course, he was just joking around with his best friend, that was their relationship, they were like brothers, if anything happened to one of them, the other would do the impossible to help. Some seconds later they were landing in the living room which was now ruined glass shards and bullet marks were scattered everywhere, luckily Tony was rich, and he could afford to fix his entire mansion more than a thousand times, the two women and some police officers were now at the scene.

"Are you two okay?". Pepper asked concerned, she didn't see what happened.

"Yeah, you should check the other guys". Tony tried to be funny, no one laughed, he then looked at Maya. _Were they after her?_. He asked himself, she didn't say anything, but the expression on her face answered his question, he wanted to finish talking to her somewhere else in private know what the hell was going on, he looked to Jim and then to the police officers and asked.

"Jim could you-". Stark was cut off.

"Got it". Rhodes knew the inventor like the palm of his hand, he knew Tony liked the attention, but not 'that' kind of attention, he was going to ask for the officers to leave, he knew something was going on when he saw that stranger woman standing with Pepper, he didn't care right now, he would make Tony clarify the situation later.

"Let's finish our converstion in my bedroom". He stopped to think a little about what he'd just said. "That sounded very wrong, but let's go". Maya and him started to walking upstairs, being careful on where they stepped on, some of the steps were gone, Pepper followed them, he looked at her, like he was telling that she didn't need to come with them.

"What? You are my boyfriend, we're together on this...". She leaned very close to his ear and whispered. "Besides, after what I heard today, I'm never leaving you with another woman in a bedroom alone". They got in a place where they could talk without anyone hearing them.

"Nice bedroom, it's got a pretty view". The blue-eyed woman complimented, Tony didn't have patience with this, he wasn't liking how that day was turning, first his coffee didn't have sugar, then, someone he hooked up with a long ago, shows up and says that he had a sixteen year old daughter and that she did something really bad for an evil overmind, and now, people were trying to kill him at his house, he only manged to say in a serious tone.

"Maya". She nodded, they wanted to know what was going on.

"Yes, after they saw the efficiency of using a human's neuro-electricity as a way to obtain powers, they made me work on a device, it was... look Tony I didn't have any choice, I was desperate, I was... the device was a small sphere, maybe the size of basketball, that worked like a magnet for neuro-electricity on a radius of four hundred meters, distributing it to everyone who had the powercell gene around the area, killing those who didn't have it in the process, we called it Pandora's Box". When she finished her sentence, Pepper gasped, Tony almost did the same, the situation was worse than he thought, now, they got a weapon of mass destruction that could also give people superpowers on the wrong hands.

"I tried to contact someone but they got people everywhere, as a last ditch effort, I tried to steal away the thing to destroy it later, but I failed, after that, I couldn't go back home, back to my daughter, it would only put her in risk, she's staying with a friend of mine for the moment, but it's just a matter of time before they, they...". Maya was fighting back the tears. "Look, I don't know who else I can trust, so I'm choosing to trust you, please take her with you for the time being, I need her to be safe, please". Pepper didn't need any convincing, she was trying to calm down the woman.

"Of course we'll keep her safe, we'll keep you both safe, don't worry this guy will be stopped". The ginger said, Tony didn't want to make any promises, but how could he say 'no'.

"I'll send my private jet and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to pick her up now". He said, his armor disassembled and he grabbed his cellphone to make the calls, Maya never felt so relieved on her entire life.

"Thank you, I really mean it". She said.

"It's the least we could do". Pepper replied.

"Do you have a phone I could use to call my daughter". The scientist asked, the ginger reached for a small table where her cellphone was.

"Sure, you can use mine". Maya mouthed a thank you and started dialing a number.

 _ **Meanwhile, on the other side of the country.**_

A girl with black wavy hair and ligt blue eyes was fiddling with her keys, she was laying on a couch listening to the sound of the rain outside, when then a black woman with a very thick Bostonian accent hollered from the kitchen.

"Hey Stevie, yah moh is on da phone".

"Coming". The teenage girl simply answered, she was born and raised in Boston, but she never developed an accent, maybe it was because her mom didn't have one. She was wearing her usual loose jeans, with a Nirvana T-shirt and her black leather jacket, it was already a week since she's been crashing on Mrs. Hughes' apartment, Stevie didn't know why her mother asked her to stay there, she seemed to be on a very stressful week, her daughter wanted to know why, she picked up the phone.

 _ **Back at the Malibu mansion**_

" _Hey mom_ ". The girl cheerfully said.

"Hi sweetie, how's going?". Maya replied on the other line, she was walking around Tony and Pepper's bedroom concerned.

" _I'm fine, just wondering when you'll be back_ ".

"I'm not coming back, you'll come to LA to meet your dad, a man dressed in a black suit will be knocking at the door in an hour or less, he'll say he's from S.H.I.E.L.D., don't open the door if he doesn't say that, got it? I love you". That got the girl a little worried, why was her mom talking like that?.

" _Mom, you're acting like it's the last time we'll talk, don't worry, I've only stuck to jumping on small buildings_ ". Her city exploring agenda accidentally came out. _Oh crap_. She cursed herself.

"Stevie, have you been city exploring again?!".

" _No?_ ". The girl lied.

"Stevie!". Leaping from roof to roof, climbing walls, buildings, exploring the sewers and other stuff like that, were Stevie's greatest passions, she loved the adrenaline of the thing, her mother would kill her for doing this kind of stuff, she didn't know where that passion came from, it started with jumping over park benches and climbing trees when she was six, over the time, the game started to get more daring and far more dangerous, she climbed two floors when she was twelve and leaped to another rooftop when she was fourteen, a woman who lived there almost had a heart attack when she saw the strange girl chilling on her rooftop, it was hard to convince her to not call the police. She also got a little job as a bike courier, putting her neck on the line when she crossed the avenues without using her breaks.

" _I told you I didn't do anything too dangerous!_ ". She tried to defend herself, Tony complained to Pepper.

"And I have a daughter called Stevie". Maya gave him a death glare.

"I kinda like the sound of it". The ginger stated.

"I don't care what you say, I don't want you doing these crazy things anymore, *sigh* just be ready when the man comes, okay?". Maya gave up on trying to scold her daughter, everytime the teenager would do something like that, her heart would almost jump out of her chest with worry.

" _Okay mom see you in LA then, love you_ ". Stevie was thankful her mom took it nicely.

"I love you too, be careful". The black-haired girl then hung up the phone ending the conversation with her mother.

"Is she okay?". Pepper asked.

"Yeah, she's getting ready for your agent to pick her up". Maya answered.

"Does she know anything about this?".

"No, I can't tell her, I just can't".

"Everything is gonna turn out just fine". Maya felt much more relieved, Tony entered the room carrying a suitcase that looked like one of his armors.

"The car is outside, I'm going to bring you to one os S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters where you can depose about this group and their evil plans, I'm bringing Mark V with me, just in case". He showed the suit case that was actually one of his armors.

"Ok, I'm ready". The blue-eyed spoke.

"I'm staying here, I gotta work on some contracts for the company". Pepper wanted to accompany them, but she still had to attend her duties as CEO of Stark's Industries, just like Tony had to attend his as Iron Man.

"We'll be back on two hours or less". He kissed her.

 _ **40 minutes later**_

Maya and Tony were both sitting on the backseat of the black BMW 220I, they were on their way to Downtown Los Angeles, where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s local headquarters was, they were responsible for overviewing the operations of The Cube, a high-security prison for supervillains affected by Gamma rays, like Abomination and Bulldozer. They talked a little about their lives after the party in Bern, Maya talked about Stevie, how she loved doing that city exploring thing and how it drove her crazy, she talked about the girl being homeschooled most of her life, how she looked more like Tony than her.

"I doubt it". He said, laughing at the irony.

"I'm serious, here's a picture of her". Maya answered also smiling, she took a small photo of the girl when she was fourteen, Tony was amazed by it.

 _ **Meanwhile, on Boston**_

Stevie was on her way to Logan International Airport, the place where she would take a private jet to LA, she never knew what to expect of her missing father, it looked like he was one of those jackass millionaires that didn't care about those who weren't rich enough, he didn't care about her mom or her. She sighed mentally, honestly, she didn't know what to think of it, her mom told her to not blame him, she said she never told him, and she was actually excited about meeting her dad, how would he look and act like, she never knew exactly what was it like to have a father, the closest she got to this feeling was when she was around Father Pyotr, an immigrant from the old Soviet Union, now Russia, that turned into a priest at the Holy Cross Cathedral next to Washington Street. Stevie didn't like going to the masses on Sundays, but she liked Father Pyotr and his russian accent, he was the guy who always knew how to make her laugh, he teached her a lot about justice, equality, love and fairness. He was one of the reasons she admired superheroes like, Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, even The Hulk, it was all because of him. He would encourage her on pursuing what she liked and was right and good.

"We're here". The agent said, she tried to make some conversation with him during their ride, she asked him if his job involved on being a robot the whole time, he didn't answer her, of course. She wanted to be a superhero or something like that since she was little, if this job demanded her to be like this, she would probably stick with being a bike courier. They entered the A terminal where the jet was going to land.

"Wait here". The agent asked her, she then sat next to an Asian guy with very pasty skin, waiting for the man in a suit to come back and tell her what to do next.

 _ **Back to LA**_

Tony was amazed at what he saw, she looked like a similar, female and younger version of himself, her eyes was the color of her mother's, she got the wavy hair and the lips of her mother as well, but her hair color was like his, her chin was like his, as well as the ears. After looking at the picture he noticed a small scar, so faint, it was almost invisible, on her left cheekbone, the shape was a crooked little line.

"Where did she get this?". He asked, pointing at the scar.

"Doing her city exploring, she slipped and fell on a glass shard while climbing a fence or walking in the sewers, I can't really remember, she was lucky it didn't hit her eye". She took away the photo.

"She does look like me, I'll give yout that, but still, I want DNA exams". He joked, Maya playfully punched his arm, he was looking at her, wondering what would it be like if he stayed with her all those years ago, how would it be like if he had a family, his thoughts were interrupted by a massive truck that was driving directly towards the BMW's right side, all Tony could do was scream.

"MAYA GET DO-". Boom, the truck crashed into their car that was now spinning out of control until it was stopped when they bumped on an utility pole, Stark was dizzy from all that spinning. Maya and the driver seemed to be fine, Tony could see from his window two guys getting out of the truck, both of them had pistols on their hands, he placed his suitcase on the floor and stepped on it soon his armor was assembling around him. A motorcycle passed them and the person on the bike's backseat shot the car with a SMG, bullets passed near Tony's face, the driver was dead, there was bullet holes on his neck and one on his forehead. Maya was just bent over, he didn't know if she was hit or not.

"Are you okay?!". He asked.

"I'm fine, just go!". That was the signal he needed, with his armor assembled, he blasted his door open flying and landing on top of the car.

"You just don't know who you are messing with!". He threatened them, he then shot the motorcycle, now those guys didn't have a way to escape, the guy with the SMG shot him, but all the the bullets ricocheted, tony used his hand repulsers and took down the two guys next to the destroyed motorcycle, one of the guys next to the truck raised his arm and prepared to shoot at Iron Man.

"You can't penetrate my armor with your sling-". The guy pulled the trigger, and what happened next left Stark dumbfounded, the bullet penetrated his armor, it didn't fully penetrated to the extent that it actually hit him, but it left a nice bullet hole on his left shoulder. It was maybe an hour since his first encounter with those assassins, and they had already adapted to his armor's shielding, he used his hand repulsers to take down the guy next to the one with the special pistol without making another comment. He then flew towards the last one remaining and used the momentum of his boost to push the guy against the truck, the impact was enough to make some of the henchman's ribs crack, he coughed blood, Tony grabbed his collar with his right arm and raised the other ready to punch the teeth out of him, he then menancingly asked.

"WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!". The man just chuckled and smiled, his teeth bloodened.

"The girl, she's going to set everything in motion, she's the one who'll open Pandora's Box... and there's nothing you can do, with all your strengh, with all your might, avenger... The Brotherhood will win". _The girl?! Could it be?!_. Tony punched the guy three times on his face very hard, if that killed him or not, he didn't care, he then looked back to the BMW, Maya was laying on the ground with her back leaned against the car, her arms were crossed, like she was protecting her chest. Stark approached her, to check if she was okay, he kneeled in front of her and looked her in the eyes, she nodded, he slowly took her arms out of the way revealing three bullet holes on her abdomen, it was bad, she was bleeding a lot, soon, she'd be dead.

"Let's go, I can take you to a hospital and-". He was cut off by her.

"Tony, no". She was breathing heavily, the hot pain she was feeling was out of this world, maybe worse than when she gave birth to Stevie, she would joke about that if she had the energy, she knew Tony would laugh at that, she didn't want to admit, but she liked his laugh. "You got to fly to Boston now, Stevie, she isn't safe".

"Save your breath". He placed his arms around her and was ready to lift her when she started to cry.

"No Tony, you don't understand... *coughs blood* I did this, I have created Pandora's Box, and now our daughter is going to open it, once it opens, it's never going to close again, you must stop this, please, help our kid, please". He was called Iron Man, but her plea smashed him, he stop trying to lift her. "After this, she'll need her father more than ever, please be there for her, if she gets in any danger, trust me, I'll come back from hell to haunt you". Stark just nodded, with a sly smile on his lips. "There's only one more thing, I... you know what? Fuck it, I love you". Tony didn't know what to say so he just said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I love you too". And then he leaned for a kiss, he could feel the dwindling energy of her kiss until he couldn't anymore, he didn't feel her breathing, she was dead, the mother of his daughter died on his arms. He slowly walked five paces backwards, and his mask once again closed, a giant burst of heat and light made him lift off the ground sixteen meters, and then another burst sent him flying like a rocket to Boston.

 _ **Meanwhile, on an unknown place**_

The room was dark, the only source of light came from the numerous monitors that were stuck to the wall, people in black outfits were fiercely working, while two men were having a match of chess together, one of the man in the black outfit approached the two and spoke.

"We took Maya Hansen down sir, but Stark, he umm". He nervously said, afraid of the middle-aged man's reaction, the man, however, seemed to be more focused on the match than the guy in the black outfit, he moved one of his black pawns next to the white queen trapping her, the elderly man he was playing against looked at the board with an indifferent expression, then the white queen moved on it's own, like it was alive or pulled by an invisible magnet.

"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan, tell our friends at the airport to do their job, take out the agent and let the girl open the box and see what's inside". The middle-aged man calmly said.

"Yes sir". The guy in the black outfit answered, the middle-aged man then took out the white queen with one of his knights, opening the possiblity to take out the king on his next move.

"Check".

 _ **Back at Logan International Airport**_

That S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was gone for quite a while, the thought of herself looking for him crossed the teenager's mind twice already, she was listening to 'Soar Away' by The Death Set on her phone. The girl was excited, she would see her mom again, she would meet her dad and she would be flying for the first time, it seemed a regular day at the airport, people were walking around with bags and suitcases, others were sitting, waiting for their flights, it was kinda crowded, Stevie didn't mind it was better than the streets and avenues that were always full of people and cars, where she made her deliveries as a bike courier, the Asian guy that was sitting next to her, was talking on his phone, he put it on his pocket, got up and left his backpack behind, Stevie unplugged her earplugs and tried to talk to the guy who seemed too much distracted.

"Hey, pal, you forgot your backpack!". She tried to call his attention, but he disappeared in the middle of the crowd, when then she noticed something shiny inside of it attracted her gaze.

 _ **Somewhere in the country**_

Stark had been flying at full speed for almost twenty-five minutes, he was almost arriving in Massachussets.

"Sir, the suit can't hold full speed much longer, at this rate we'll fall from the sky". The disembodied voice of Jarvis played.

"I don't care about the consequences, Jarvis, disable the suit's weaponry and defense systems, concentrate everything on the propellers". Tony answered, he was going to do everything he could to stop what was about to happen.

"Of course, sir". The digital butler replied, then after the suit adjusted to his commands, Tony doubled his speed. _Please don't open it, please don't open it, please don't open it, please let me get there in time_.

 _ **Back at the airport**_

Stevie took out the thing from inside the backpack and was now analyzing it. _What the hell is this thing?_. She asked herself, it was a metallic sphere, maybe the size of a basketball, she'd never seen something like that before, it was an interesting way to pass the time, trying to figure out what was that. She placed it on her lap and started searching for something, like a text or button or anything else, she tried pressing and twisting it, but it wouldn't budge, just as she was losing interest on it, something started moving, like it was being activated or something, like it was being unlocked like a box or a chest, she placed the hands on the sides of the sphere again and it was budging, she pressed the sphere until she heard a click. The light, the pain only one sound could describe it, boom.

First there was a white light that blinded her, she could only 'see' black and then pain washed over her body, it was a horrible burn, like she was on a beach without sunscreen for an entire year, her ears that were hearing some songs not so long ago were now ringing very loudly, but then there was nothing, she felt her consciousness slipping away, somehow she could hear the people around her dying screaming, it sounded like they were being burned alive, she could hear the building falling apart and explosions nearby, and then it was all silence, she felt dead.

 _ **10 minutes later**_

Tony finally arrived at the scene, he could not believe what his mask's cams showed him, so he decided to look with his own eyes, the mask opened and what he saw was true. The place was smashed into rubble, firefighters, paramedics, even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier could be seen not so far from there, Stark got closer, entering the radius of the blast, he saw people burned, smashed by the building, he could not describe it, that place was a warzone. There was some other people that were covered in rubble, but still alive, coughing a lot. He approached the center of the blast, and there she was, laying on the ground, her skin was red, there was dried blood on her face, part of her clothes were scorched, her hair seemed intact, like it was God's decision to save it, because it was too beatiful to see.

He knelt, holding her in his arms, like a father would hold his kid, and tell the child that the world couldn't hurt them anymore, because they were now together, something he didn't expect then happened, she was breathing, faintly, but breathing. He cleaned the dried blood out of her face, it wasn't hers there were no cuts on her face, he lifted her. He tried then looking for the sphere, the device that caused all that, but it was no use, Pandora's Box was gone

 _ **Back at the room**_

"We've sucessfully retrieved Pandora's Box sir". One of the henchman reported, the two men were still playing their chess.

"Good, phase one is over". He calmly said, as he placed his black queen on the center of the board, in a way to open the elder's guard.

"Should we start phase two sir?". The guy asked, a smug look on the elder's face appeared, one of his white bishops moved on their own and took out the queen, who was now floating and was gently placed outside the board

"Why the hurry? The best strategist knows how to wait for his opportunity, for now do the usual". He answered and used a rook to take out the white bishop trapping the white king, the smug face on the elder's face disappeared. "I think it's mate". All the game pieces, then jumped out of the board.


	2. Wake up

**Author's Notes**

 **Sorry for taking so long, but it's finally here, thank you for the review mysterious guest, I'll try to update as quickly as I can. Enjoy the chapter.**

 **I do not own the right to Marvel's characteers, they obviously belong to Marvel.**

 _ **Chapter 2 - Wake Up**_

For a lot of time, she couldn't see or hear anything, she thought she was dead until a familiar memory displayed. Stevie was sitting on a branch of a fairly tall tree she climbed at Franklin Square, the girl remembered that day. She was twelve, it had been two weeks since she started studying on Blackstone School, her first school, and she could not stand it anymore. She felt trapped in that classroom, bored out of her mind, that and the fact that she couldn't make any friends. _Who needs those jerks anyway? I'm much better out here_. She thought to herself, if her mother found out that she was skipping class, she would have the girl's hide, but she didn't care, she looked on her cellphone she got her last birthday, 8:26 AM. She got up from the branch and got a hold of the trunk and slowly, but surely, climbed down the tree, when she got to a safe height, she dropped from it, landing on her two feet.

"So let's see, sucessfully escape class, check, spend an hour listening to music and watching the streets like a loner, check, what should I do now?". She thought for a second, she got an idea of what to do, Stevie ran across the street. The day was beautiful, it was one of the waning days of summer and fall was starting to kick in, the trees were still green, but the wind was getting more chilly, and people started using clothes that were best suited for that time of the year, Victorian style buildings addorned the not so crowded, but yet noisy, streets, her black wavy hair along with her clothes and the oak trees swayed with the wind that came from the sea. She ran until she saw a Gothic structure standing in front of her, the buiding was very tall, no matter from which direction you looked there was always a lot of windows, making the place much more beatiful, the girl approached the front doors, there was a big rose window above it, one day she would climb the big tower that stood on the right side of the main entrance, so she could see the entire South End, its Victorian buildings, the cars, the parks, she would feel like she was the queen, ruling from high above, or a superhero, watching over the good people of Boston and all that righteous stuff. She liked playing around with that thought, sometimes she would dream that she was soaring above the city, kicking bad guys' butts and then people would wave for her, thank her for making the city a better place, and then her mother would scold her for doing these dangerous stuff. Stevie entered the holy place, she stopped running, she wasn't the brightest person around, but she was sure that it wouldn't look good if she ran around inside the place.

"Hi Stevieh, hah wah ya?". Asked an elderly woman with brown eyes.

"Hi Mrs. Brown, I'm fine, have you seen Father Pyotr around?". Stevie noticed that only older people had this thicker accent. _The effects of globalization?_. She wondered.

"Shure, he's havihn breakfast at the kitchehn, I think ya know yoh weih around, righ'?".

"Yup, thanks Mrs. Brown". Stevie started walking further into the cathedral

"Oh, Yo're welcome deah". The elderly woman responded, the place was fairly empty. _Not so many people praying these days_. She thought, Stevie was walking in the middle lane admiring the white pillers, the stained glasses, the effects of the light that painted the place, giving it the holy ambience. She wasn't religious, she wasn't even sure if she believed in God or not, a weird thing to say given that she lived in a world where a nordic god, a man in a flying suit, a giant green monster and others anormalities, protected society against a nazi paranormal organization, purple aliens and other crazy nordic gods. In a place like this, people definetly kept their minds open. As she casually walked on the middle lane, an old lady was giving her a weird look, insulted by the disrespect the girl demonstrated in front of the holy cross, Stevie noticed the lady and quickly made the sign of the cross, so she wouldn't look too rude, it got the lady to stop looking at her. She turned right and opened a wooden door to her left which led to a beige kitchen, people were having breakfast, most of them were the kind and gentle nuns. The place smelled like coffe and fresh cake, Stevie spotted the old man she was looking for leaned against a wall and wearing a black, ankle-length cassock, he had white hair with some gray strands, a characteristic, big russian nose, and a fairly large white beard that would make some people jealous, he kind of reminded her of Santa Claus, with the exception that he wasn't fat.

"Good morning Father Pyotr!". The girl cheerfully chanted with a bright smile on her face, the priest took a sip of his coffe and also greeted her with the same smile.

"Good morning to you too Stevie, we have lemon cake, it is still fresh, do you want some?". He replied with his funny accent, the black-haired girl nodded, the lemon cake that was normally served on the breakfast, was one of her favorites, she nodded. "Sister Jude, could you please get a plate for Ms. Hansen".

"Sure, should I get one for you too Father Pyotr?". The nun gently asked.

"No thanks, a man should not eat more than he needs to". He replied, they sat next to each other on the big oval table, most of the people there started leaving to do their daily routine. The nun brought a plate, a fork and a knife to the girl, than left with a tender smile.

"Enjoy the cake Stevie". She said.

"Thanks Sister Jude". The girl answered as she cut a generous slice of the lemon pound cake and put on her plate

"So, how is my little tsvetok, climbing a lot of trees?". Tsvetok meant flower, is how the old man usually called Stevie, she learned the meaning of the word from him, if someone else called her flower she might have felt a little bit awkward, people who actually knew her would call her anything but flower. Naughty, rebel, crazy, climbing-monkey, it's what people usually called her, she didn't try to deny it, she was all of that, but with Pyotr was different, it seemed just natural, besides, she liked the sound of the russian word, it sounded fierce, strong, powerful.

"Oh you know, last week climbed two floors outside my building, no big deal". She said with a smug look on her face and took a bite of her cake, the old Russian chuckled.

"Yes, you told me that already, you told everyone on South End that already, you know, it's sinful to be full of pride, speaking of sin, aren't you supposed to be on school right now?". That got her by surprise, she was trying to think of an excuse.

"Ummmm". The old man tried to hold another chuckle.

"You are not really thinking about lying to a priest, are you?".

"What?! No". She lied.

Her surroundings started changing, the ceiling turned into the blue sky with some clouds, the beige walls and the windows disappeared, replaced by a park with green trees, and the silence of the previous room turned into the tweets of the birds. They were walking, Father Pyotr was by her side talking to her. This was moments after she finished the cake.

"And how is your mother? I haven't seen her on the masses lately". He asked her.

"She is working on a new project, and she says it takes a lot of time, she's out almost the entire day, that's why I'm on school now, it sucks". She answered, feeling a little bit down.

"I understand what you are going through, when I was a boy-". _And here he goes again_. She thought, it was commom to see Father Pyotr talking about his past when he lived in Russia, Stevie cut him off and tried to be funny.

"Back in Soviet Russia". She said copying his accent.

"Hey! I don't talk like that". He tried to disguise his accent, unfortunately, he miserably failed, that only made the girl laugh even harder.

"Hmph, you're impossible". He sighed.

"Father, can I ask you something?". She innocently spoke.

"Anything". He responded.

"Why did you become a priest?". The man pondered for a moment, he then finally gave her an answer.

"It's a long story, but the main reason is that, I simply just wanted to make my world a better place".

"By being a priest?". She asked, a little confused.

"We all find different ways to do it, be it by spreading His word and telling people what to do or by saving people on a falling building, it makes no difference, what matters is their intention". They stopped walking, he then assumed a very serious look. "You know you are dreaming, right?".

 _" Wait! He wasn't supposed to say that, right? I remember this day!_ _"_. The girl was shocked, she tried to say something about that bizarre situation, but she couldn't move her lips to speak, it was as if her body didn't belong to her.

"You must wake up, the world needs you to make it a better place". She wasn't on her body anymore, she was seeing herself and Father Pyootr as if she was another person, not even that, she didn't have a body, she was just a POV, he then stopped looking at the twelve year old Stevie and looked to her actual direction, he walked up to her and placed his hands on the shoulders she didn't knew she had.

"Do what's right Stevie, show them, wake up".

"Father". She managed to say with her own voice.

"WAKE UP!". She blinked and saw herself on a dark room, her room, she was laying on her bed as if she had just woke up. _What the hell?_. She touched her face and felt a small piece of gauze on her left cheekbone, she immediately remembered where she was, or rather when. She was fourteen and it was just one day after she accidentaly slipped on the sewers and cut her face, or at least that's what she told her mother, she actually got that small cut on a fistfight she may had started with some jackholes back on school. If her city exploring got her mother on her nerves, imagine what she would've done if she heard that her daughter got in a fight. She got up from her bed and headed to the kitchen to have breakfast, she walked down the small corridor that separated her room from the kitchen. She had lived on that apartment her whole life, it wasn't big or fancy, but it was cozy, and what use would be a big house if she mostly wanted to spend her time outside anyway? She noticed a sleepy brown-haired woman sitting on the table drinking coffe from a mug, she was almost falling over because of how tired she looked.

"Hey mom, are you okay?". The girl asked while she grabbed a bowl and her cereal.

"Oh, hi sweetie, good morning to you too!". The woman jolted awake and spoke like she had the best night of sleep of her life.

"O-kay". Stevie awkwardly answered. "How's the project going?".

"Well, we've been making, how should I put this? Some striking progress".

"That's good to know, once you finish it, we can finally go on that roadtrip". The girl said with some hope on her voice.

"Umm, you see, it's more complicated than that". The scientist answered with one of her usual sentences.

"Oh no, don't you dare give me that sentence! C'mon mom, you've been working on this thing since I was fuc-". She stopped mid-sentence before she could say the word that would get her in one of her mother's infamous scoldings. "Since I was freaking born, you gotta take some time off from it, we don't need that much money". The scientist let out a chuckle.

"Oh sweetie, if I worked for the money I would've studied economy instead of biological engineering".

"Then what is it?". The girl asked, Maya sighed, thinking of a simple way to answer the girl.

"It's, umm, it's to make my world a better place, to ease the suffering of other people". She said, hoping her daughter would understand, some moments of silence passed between them, the expression on Stevie's face gave away that she understood. She was very sympathetic to people who had that resolve, she learned to admire that from Father Pyotr, but she wouldn't let her mother get away so easily.

"If this answer was any cheesier, it would be called Cheesecake Factory". She joked, her mother laughed. Stevie's sense of humour was one of her best qualities, she was told that she got that from her father.

"How's the cut?". Maya asked, trying to get a better look on the girl's cheekbone.

"Meh, fine". She tried to act tough, so her mother wouldn't worry, in Stevie's mind, the brown-haired woman had enough things to worry about.

"Good, I don't want to hear about you doing this kind of stuff anymore, okay?". The girl raised her right hand like she was pleadging a vow.

"Yes ma'am". She was, of course, lying. The girl blinked, and all of a sudden, she wasn't on the kitchen eating her daily bowl of cereal anymore, intead she was on her building's rooftop, the wind was howling in her ears.

 _" Oh Yeah"_. She smiled to herself.

It was her first time leaping to another building's roof, the adrenaline mixed with the cold fall wind was giving her goosebumps, she remembered how good she was feeling. On this one she could not mess it up, one failed move and she could end up on a wheelchair, or a grave. She was ready to do her stunt, she'd finally built the courage to do it.

"Ready, set, YOLO!". She started running, the wind was against her, telling how bad of an idea that was, but she didn't care, her left foot boosted her forward, towards the edge of the other building, she was mid-air, her arms on a position that looked like she was a lioness about to catch her pray, everything seemed to be in slow motion. The silence was so overwhelming, the wind, howling moments before, was now whispering on her ears, the cars and even the birds didn't make any noise, it was like the whole city, no, the entire world stopped to see the moment of truth, or maybe it was just the adrenaline that made her feel that way. She was above the other building, she'd made it. She landed with style, doing a roll like on of those spy movies, she couldn't believe that she'd done it, the adrenaline was still flowing through her body like an electrical current, she screamed to let it all out, she felt amazing, like a rockstar. Suddenly, she spotted a dark figure behind a corner, spying on her, she had control of her body and decided to check that out.

When she turned the corner she was no longer on a rooftop, she wasn't even walking, she was instead riding a bycicle at full speed in the middle of St. Stephen street, no breaks, she was fifteen, not one of her best moments in life. Stevie dropped out of highschool to become a bike courier, mostly just to piss off her mom, but also, after three years of studying on a school she couldn't stand it anymore. Being locked away on a boring room, with boring people she didn't like, listening to boring classes about pointless subjects drove her nuts, she felt like everything she did there was worthless, like she couldn't become more than just an annoying highschool student. Her mother was very angry, but after a big fight, Maya decided to let the girl go on with her projects. Even though everything seemed alright, Stevie could feel that her mom was disappointed. She also got more paranoid with things, she often mumbled things to herself about if something was right or wrong, she would spend less time with her daughter on her home and more time God-knows-where working on that project. Stevie hated that, she wanted to show her that she made the right choice, but how? The girl thought that if she made more money out of her work, she would then prove to her mother that, in some way, she was doing something good to the world. So, she decided to take all her jobs seriously, she would always go full speed on her Giant Escape 1 2014, it was the cheapest bike she could find, but it got the job done. When she bought it, she immediatly took the brakes off, she wouldn't be needing that, she also 'improved' the chain so it would let her go faster. But her trick had a minor flaw, if she went too long on a high speed without slowing down the chain would come out, get tangled on the wheel, and get her launched across the street, just a minor flaw.

But back to the action, that day Stevie got a package worth a lot of money, it was very important to her to get that money since they were facing some financial problems. Many couriers got jealous they didn't get a job paying that much, she was leaving that package to be her last delivery, she'd just finished one delivery and was talking to the old man who got the package, when then, another bike courier swooped, grabbing her backpack with the valuable package inside.

"HEY COME BACK HERE!". She screamed, getting on her bike to chase him. _You're not going to get away with this you bastard!_. She was going full speed after him, they were on the middle of St Stephen St, a truck was coming on their direction, both bikers dodged it, Stevie almost hit on one of the parked cars, but that didn't make her slow down, she was not losing that package. The thief turned left. _He's going to cross Huntington Ave?! Idiot thinks I don't have the balls to ride along, huh?_ . She thought, at the end of the street there were a lot of cars going along the avenue, they were getting closer and closer, the biker didn't hit the breaks, he crossed, Stevie was right behind him, one cab furiously beeped and cursed the reckless girl that he almost hit, the biker quickly looked behind him to see if the girl was still chasing him, damn right she was, his expression showed some annoyance, he looked to be around her age. _Alright then, which way you gonna turn? Left or right jackass?_. She was calculating his moves, she saw that he couldn't turn right without slowing down, she preemptively turned left to get some advantage on him, the thief tried to mislead her by doing a faint turn to the right, but she already made her decision, she knew that he couldn't go that way, the results were him almost getting hit by her. They were on the sidewalk, pedestrians were getting out of the way of the two bikers who apparently lost their minds. The guy turned right on a narrow entrance to an alley, she followed him, they were dodging construction material, Stevie almost messed up and hit a pile of bricks, they were going up a ramp, she was getting tired, but she was not letting go of that package, she would prove to her mother that she didn't screw up. He looked back again to see if she would still chase him, yup, still there. _Where are we now? Is this St Botolph St or Greenleaf St? Who cares Stevie?! Just go get him!_. She started pedalling harder, she was on the sidewalk and was ready to hit the back wheel of the thief, they were getting closer to a crossroad. _Almost there!_. She then heard a clink coming from her back wheel, a clink that the girl was used to hear.

"Oh no". Was all she could menage to say before the chain of her bycicle got tangled on the wheel, the bike stopped, she was launched forward, her right shoulder was the first thing to hit the ground, the momentum caused her to violently roll over, grazing her skin a little bit. She looked up, the biker looking back at her, a smile on his lips caused by his victory over her, there was some tears forming on the corner of her eyes.

" _Don't worry Stevie, just wait a little bit_ ". She tried to say to the 15 year old version of herself, the biker continued to look at her and was about to cross Gainsborough St, a truck honked, asking the biker to get out of the way, it was too late. He was hit by the massive vehicle, the backpacks he was carrying were sent flying across the street, everyone stopped to see what happened. A part of the 15 year old was cheering the guy's disgrace, and another felt bad for what happened. She got up and walked over to where her backpack landed, no one was noticing her, they were all focused on the boy, she started to walk away when she saw his backpack lying there too, for a moment she thought about getting it for herself, stealing all his jobs and money, give him a taste of what it felt like, but then, she thought about her mom and Father Pyotr. _What the hell am I thinking?_. Doing this wasn't her style, she already got what she came for. She grabbed the backpack and walked over to a middle-aged lady who was part of the crowd surrounding the boy, she tapped her shoulder and said.

"Hey lady, here, I think that's his". She handed her the backpack, this was all eerie to her, her voice sounded like it had no emotion, because she didn't know what emotion should come out.

"Oh, doan worry, I'll make sure the paramehdics get it". The woman said with a very slight Bostonian accent. "Always a piteh when things like that happen, you be careful tehre".

"Yeah". She said a little dumbfounded by what just happened, moments ago the light-blue-eyed girl wanted the biker to suffer for what he did, and now that she'd got what she wanted, she wasn't sure what to think, a part of her felt guilty for what happened. She walked over to her bike that was laying on the ground away from the crowd, she untagled the chain from her wheel and hooked it back to its place, it was good as new now. She raised her bike from the ground, a dark figure was standing in front of her, the same figure that she followed on the rooftop.

"What the hell?". There was still sunlight, she didn't know how that was possible, that shadowy figure was definetly not part of her memory.

"Look at what we have here, Stevie Hansen saving the day". His voice sounded calm and deep, like an middle-aged man, he had no accent and nothing remarkable, Stevie didn't know whom that voice belonged to, as far as she knows, it could belong to any middle-aged man.

"Who are you?". She asked the dark figure.

"Me? Well can't you see? I'm no one, just a fruit of your imagination". He responded.

"A fruit of my imagination huh? In that case...". She pictured the dark figure turning into a bunny, she wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it did, he shrinked in size, instead of being a dark shadow he now had white fur and cute bunny ears, the girl laughed. The bunny grew back in size and instead of having cute fur and ears now had the dark color from before.

"Ha ha, very funny". He spoke unamused.

"What do you want?".

"I want to make my world a better place". Her expression was of shock when she heard his words. "Yes, you're quite fond of saying that aren't you? But what have you actually done to make this world better?". He provoked, she was left unsettled by the comment.

"You don't know shit". She took her things and started to walk away.

"But I do, I know you Stevie, I know you better than you know yourself, I know that you fear being a failure". She didn't like him at all, because what he was saying was true, she lately felt like a burden that can't do nothing, couldn't go well on school so she dropped out, the money she brought wasn't that much, she felt like she was letting everyone down, she told herself that she was doing something right, that she was onto something good, but deep inside she knew it all. "You mostly screw up your entire life, but now I'm here to help you with your resolve, in order to do that you only need to wake up". She was about to say something to that idiot who thought that he was above her, but then it was too late, he was no longer there, in fact, she was no longer there, she was back on her home packing some things. That was recent, she was going to stay with Mrs Hughes for a while. Her mom told her the night before. Stevie noticed something very strange on Maya's behaviour, she was nervous and erratic like she was trying to run away from the police or something. She said something about meeting her dad in LA, Stevie rarely wondered about her mysterious father, her mother didn't mention him. Why? she was asking herself, after all these years did her mother start doing this?. _Has she finally gone nuts after working on that project of hers? I hope not_. She thought, she was fiddling with a necklace, the pendant was a silver cross, it was a gift from Father Pyotr. She then heard a knock on the door.

"Hey Stevih, you theah?". A lady called her.

"Coming Mrs Hughes". She answered, when she opened the door and stepped ou she wasn't in her building's corridor, instead she was in an airport. _Wait_. She said mentally, the dark figure was accompanying her. "What do you want now?!". She asked him annoyed.

"I'm here to watch the show". He pointed at a girl who was sitting on a bench playing with a metallic sphere, it was her, Stevie knew what was going to happen next, she ran at the girl trying to stop what was about to come.

"Hey you Sto-". Too late, the same blinding light appeared again, the explosion went off, people screaming, being burned alive, the building coming down on their heads. This was the soundtrack of that moment, that horrible moment. Everything turned black but she could still hear the screams of other people. The voice of the dark figure spoke.

"The box opened and it's never going to close again, war is coming... with all its glory... and all its pain... time for you to wake up, be decisive, make no mistake".


	3. Changed - Part one

**Author's Notes**

 **So sorry for taking so long. These past two weeks have been crazily stressful, been working on projects non-stop. I've actually never experienced this kind of mental exhaustion before. I hope I get more free time to write. originally this chapter was supposed to be longer, but... hell if I did the whole thing I'd probbly finsh it next month. Yeah, things are that bad. Captain America's Civil War trailer though. Looks pretty dope, not gonna lie. Enjoy the chapter.**

 **I do not own the right to Marvel's characteers, they obviously belong to Marvel.**

 _ **Chapter 3 - Changed - Part One**_

Moments, which felt like ages, of being still on that darkness with screams of people passed, the girl wondered if that was hell, punishing her for almost always disobeying her mother. The screams got louder and louder and louder until she couldn't bear anymore, she wanted that to stop so she shouted.

"STOP GODAMMIT!". And suddenly the darkness became clear, she felt that she was laying on a bed and could see the white ceiling of the room she was in. She felt a weird sensation in her nostrils, like something was in there. She used her arms to help her lift her torso until she got on a sitting position on her bed, she felt dizzy, drained and weak. Her bed had green sheets and the whole room was white, it was a hospital room, she touched her nose and felt two tubes sticked up her nostrils, she pulled the medical tape holding the tubes and then grabbed them, it was the weirdest sensation she ever experienced. It felt like a slimy thing getting out of her nose, she held the plastic tubes that were covered with some kind of transparent goo in front of her.

"Ugh, nice boogers I've got here". She said sarcastically and a little bit disgusted, she looked at the back of her right hand and saw another medical tape holding another tube, she pulled it out as well and then slowly pulled the small needle that was stuck in there. "Ouch". A small stinging pain made her cringe a little bit. _I've gotta get out of here_. She said mentally while she had a look around her room, she was alone, barefoot and wearing one of those hospital patient's gowns made of cotton, which was also green. She started to get out of her bed, but when her left foot touched the ground, her vision got blurry, she felt a burning sensation in the back of her head, and first thing she knew her knees faltered and she collapsed on the cold floor, hitting her head on the wall.

"Fuck!". She muttered while placing her hands on her head to soothe the pain, she was looking straight at the white ceiling, the girl noticed that there was light coming behind the curtains of a window, indicating that it was still day. _How long have I been here?_. She wondered.

"Who cares? Just gotta get out of here". She said to herself, she blinked her eyes a few times, telling her body to wake up. She rolled over and pushed herself up, she started to feel that dizziness taking over again, this time she leaned against the wall until she got stable, she looked around her room a second time and she saw a door that led to a bathroom. _Maybe if I wash my face, this blasted dizziness will go away_. That seemed like a good idea to her, so she started to walk towards the bathroom, she was now in front of the window, the girl wondered if this hospital she was in was close to her home, so she could go rest there instead. She opened the curtain and was immediately taken aback by the sunlight that blinded her, she used her left arm to shield her eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the luminosity. Once they did, she watched the view before her, it seemed that she was on a fairly tall building, the streets, avenues and side walks were broad, the houses in front of her had a very unfamiliar architecture and they weren't clumped up like in Boston, the trees and bushes that dotted the streets were also kind of different from the ones she was used to see on South End, where the hell was she?. _I'll ask someone later_. The girl mentally said, trying to focus on her task, she reached the bathroom and placed her hand on the sink ready to open it, she looked at herself on the mirror.

"What the f-". She expressed herself, shocked at what she saw on the mirror. Her black wavy hair was okay, so was her face, it had no scars or burns, something that you wouldn't expect to see on someone who literally had a bomb going off at their face, but that wasn't what shocked her the most. Stevie was shocked by her eyes, intead of the light blue she got from her mother, her iris now had a darker shade, an electric blue. _What the hell happened to my eyes?!_. She started panicking, she blinked a few times, played with her eyelids and moved her eyes a little bit to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, was she imagining all that? Probably. She opened the bathroom sink to wash her face, maybe then she would see herself normally again on the mirror, water started flowing through it, as she touched the flow of water with both her hands, she felt a horrible pain as if they were getting electrocuted or something.

"OW". The girl grimaced, she immeditely took both of them out of the water. First, the sensation was an overwhelming feeling of adrenaline flowing through them that it was enough to hurt her, and then it felt like she put both her hands bare in an ice bucket, that cold sensation made them stiff a little bit. Stevie rubbed them to soothe the pain but she didn't feel any coldness when they touched each other. _Is this thing electrified? Can't be it, or I would get shocked just from touching the sink, right?_. She tried to think of a reason why she felt that from just touching the water. This time the girl took a deep breath, calming herself a little, she placed her hands under the water flow, she felt the cold water flow through them normally, as it did so many times when she washed them. "What the hell was that?". She asked out loud wondering what could've caused that weird sensation similar to a shock. Stevie gathered some water and washed her face, the refreshing feeling that it provided was something much needed, it washed the dizziness away from her. The black-haired girl looked at her reflection on the mirror again, her eyes were still the same color from before, electric blue instead of the light blue. She could see just fine, what happened for them to become like this? Stevie gave up on trying to find the answer, right now, she was focused on getting out of there, she wanted to change her outfit. Walking around on the hospital alone, wearing that gown, would definetly look suspicious. Unfortunately, it would be very hard to find clothes for her in a hospital, so what she was wearing would have to do, she walked over to the door that apparently led to her floor's corridor. Before she opened it, she leaned closer to the little square window on the door and tried to find out where should she go, she was lucky there were plaques that indicated which direction led where. The first one indicated which floor and ward she was in, '6th floor inpatient ward', below that, another plaque pointed to the left and said 'elevators'. _Well, not as good as 'way out of this hellhole', but it's definetly where I wanna go_. The girl mentally said. She slowly opened the door and stepped outside, feeling the cold floor beneath her naked feet. Stevie looked both ways, it looked like she was alone on that corridor, the girl camly strolled down the path that led to another corridor. Another plaque in front of her said the elevators were right, she turned her head right and immediately saw metal doors, it was the elevators, she clicked the button that pointed down and waited for it to come.

"You know you don't have to use this here right?". Stevie heard it coming from the end of the corridor, the voice seemed to belong to a man, she slowly looked behind her and spotted him leaned against the wall wearing cargo pantsand a tight white T-shirt that showed his muscles, he had an apple on his hand, on his left side was a redhaired woman wearing a very unusual black leather outfit that made her curves stand out, she was beautiful, the girl never cared much about her looks but that woman made her jealous. _What the hell?_. She knew them from somewhere, those two appeared on TV or something, she just couldn't remember where.

"Unlike you, I take my job seriously". She told him and then whispered. "Besides, cap' is using his too so I don't wanna look too casual".

"What's the thing between you and cap' anyways?". He asked scratching his head.

"I don't know, maybe because he's the-". The woman stopped mid-sentence, she spotted the girl that was standing there looking at them as if they were aliens or something, she poked the man next to her. "Hey, Clint". The woman pointed at Stevie, he looked where she indicated and threw his apple in the garbage bin next to the girl.

"Hah, three points". He joked, and started walking towards the girl. "Hey girl!". The man hollered, Stevie's reaction was to look back at the elevator and push the button on a frenzy several times as if it was going to make it come faster.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck". She quickly muttered for each time she pressed the button, she looked back at the man that was now some feet from her. He was just casually walking like nothing of abnormal was taking place.

"Hey don't wor-". He couldn't finish his sentence because the girl dashed away from him, running down the corridor as if her freedom or very life depended on it.

"Nice go Mr. smooth". The redhaired woman behind him sarcastically spoke.

"Shut up". He replied. Meanwhile, the girl was running, looking for somewhere to hide or maybe the stairs. She spotted a door that apparently led to the staircase, Stevie didn't think twice, she entered it and started going down, jumping when she got to the last four steps. It was one of those square spiral staircases that had a gap on the center. Stevie was on the fourth floor when she heard someone coming from upstairs, it was the woman in black. _It doesn't matter, I've got the lead over he-_. The girl couldn't finish her thought, what she saw next simply amazed her. The redhaired woman had jumped down the square gap that was on the center of the stairs, Stevie could see her coming closer and closer, the woman used one of the stairs to bounce, she used the momentum and landed right in front of the girl who was running for her life almost, she recomposed herself and spoke.

"We're not here to hurt you, okay? We just want you to calm down a little, no one's gonna hurt you". The woman stood in front of the crazy patient who had just woken up from her coma. She started to approach the girl as if she was just a spooked animal that didn't know what was doing, Stevie was slowly backing off still impressed by the woman's stunt. _Think Stevie! Think!_. She definetly couldn't go past the woman, going up would lead her nowhere and she wouldn't have the time to get into the elevator of the floor she was in. Stevie glanced at the gap of the stairs. _Since I'm on a hospital, might as well right?_. She said mentally, the woman noticed the girl's glance.

"You're not really-". She couldn't finish her sentence, Stevie vaulted over the rail and was now hanging from it, she dropped down. _Wait... NOW!_. She grabbed the rail that was below the floor she'd been, the pain that it caused on her hands was tremendous, it was just like she had punched a block of concrete. She repeated the process several times until she was one floor away from the ground, there were no more rails she could hang on to, so she decided to drop down. The woman just watched the girl go, she had to admit, she was impressed by Stevie's skills. The girl's landing wasn't so impressive however, her feet failed to withstand the force of her fall, her back touched the ground.

"Ugh, can't think... of a... back pain pun". Everything was aching, she found the strenght to get up however, she'd probably broken a few bones of her hands, but she only needed her feet and her legs to run, and those were still okay. "Not gonna feel awesome tomorrow". She violently pushed the door open and was now standing in a broader corridor, nurses, doctors and patients looked at her as if she was crazy or something. She spotted a sign with red letters saying 'exit' above a double white door at the end of the corridor. A smile formed on the corner of the girl's lips, freedom. She started running towards the door, ignoring everyone there, the sound of her barefoot touching the floor. Stevie was making all sorts of plans once she got out of there, until the guy that was wearing the tight white T-shirt could be seen some feet from her left, he was spinning a piece of cloth that had a weighth tied on each end, his face expression told her 'got you'. The happiness that was on the girl's face vanished once she discovered what was going to take place next. The man let go of the cloth aiming for Stevie's legs, the centrifugal force that it aquired did the rest for him, the improvised bolas wrapped around her legs, stopping them from moving. She fell, sliding on the floor. She was so close to freedom, she caught a glimpse of the man and the woman who were calmly approaching her, Stevie struggled, trying to free herself from the cloth that made it impossible for her to move. Someone opened the door that led out of the corridor behind her, she felt the presence of someone who was fierce, solid and inflexible, but at the same time kind and gentle.

"You can't have a peaceful breakfast these days". The man behind her sighed, Stevie turned her body to see who it was. Her eyes widened with disbelief, she saw long brown military boots that stopped at the middle of his shins. His outfit had the colours of the American flag, a silver star proudly shined on his chest, the whole thing could make Ronald Reagan jizz his pants. He wasn't wearing his mask, his blue eyes, golden hair and general perfect face could be seen by everybody. That was Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, the girl could not believe her own eyes, she could've never expect seeing him in person, ever.

"Stand down soldier". He camly told Stevie, he then looked at the two who were standing some feet of distance from the girl and apparently the only ones not impressed by the avenger's presence, after all, they were also avengers. "Clint, Natasha, tell Stark his daughter woke up". _STARK'S WHO?!_. A voice on Stevie's mind exclaimed.


	4. Changed - Part two

**Author's Notes**

 **I'm not dead! Sorry it took so long and the chapter ending kinda sucked. I think I can't promise you a weekly chapter, but know that I'm never going to stop writing, so don't worry. Also don't be afraid to send me questions and suggestions. Enjoy the chapter.**

 **I do not own the right to Marvel's characters they obviously belong to Marvel.**

 _ **Changed - Part Two**_

They accompanied her to her room and brought some of her old clothes. As she started to put them on she tried to process what was happening.

 _So... let's go over what's happening here... woke up today in a hospital, went to wash my face, my eyes got another color... pretty standard until now_. She sarcastically thought. _Water zapped me when I tried to touch it, went out of the room, two weirdos start chasing me_. Instead of the hospital gown, she was now wearing some dark skinny jeans and a Celtics' green T-shirt, after she was done she sat on her bed. _And I'm Tony Stark's daughter_. She couldn't believe how crazy that day was turning out. _Maybe this is a another dream_. She pinched herself to confirm whether this was or was not real.

"Fuck!". She mubled, now knowing that all of what happened had been real. She had really exploded an airport full of people, she placed her face on both her hands, the heavy guilt hovering above her shoulders. She told herself that she didn't know, that it was all an accident, she could never expect that thing to be a bomb. But it doesn't change the fact that hundreds died because of her. She hoped that it wasn't a lot of people who got injured.

"There's some breakfast waiting for you at the cafeteria". Someone knocked on the door, the voice belonged to the blond war veteran known as Captain America.

"I-I'm coming". The girl spoke as she got up from her bed and tied her shoes, she opened the door and saw the super-hero dutifully standing there with his patriotic uniform.

"Let's go". He said, both of them started walking down the corridor, towards the elevator. Stevie tried to open a conversation with the man but she didn't know what to say that would get him enganging with her, her past experience with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent made her scared to look like an idiot again. The elevator made a noise indicating that they were now on the ground level. Steve waited for the girl to get out first, she stepped out of the elevator and looked around the corridor a second time. She tried to figure out which hospital she was in, but nothing of that place was familiar, the sunlight that came out of the windows was strong, too strong for the tipical Bostonian weather. She also looked at the people who were casually walking by, minding their own business, it seemed no one there paid to much attention to the girl who caused the biggest confusion earlier. The superhero that stood next to her cleared his throat trying to catch the girl's attention.

"Oh sorry". She apologised for her distraction. "So, which hospital are we in?".

"We're in Ronald Reagan Medical Center". He answered, the girl frowned for a moment, that hospital name wasn't familiar at all.

"So, we're like, in North End or something?". The man opened a handsome smile that was characteristic of him.

"We're not in Boston anymore, you're in Los Angeles, California".

 ** _Some time later_**

Both of them were sitting on a table at the hospital's cafeteria, she was eating some scrambled eggs with bacon and he was taking a bite out of a nice-looking red apple. Stevie was trying to eat her meal but the giant number of questions on her head kept her from doing it.

"So, you feeling alright?". He asked, bringing the girl back to the moment.

"Yeah, I suppose so". She smiled, she was now thinking of her mother. Maya was in LA too, if so then why wasn't she there with her daughter?. "Um, can I ask you something?".

"Sure". He simply responded after he took another bite from his apple.

"Would you have any idea where my-". Before she could finish her question, the TV showed breaking news that were definetly interesting. The voice of a female reporter started speaking through the device.

" _The terrorist attack on Logan International Airport has officially been confirmed to be the second worse to happen on American soil..._ ". Stevie could only leave her mouth partially hanging, as she was shocked by the helicopter footage that was shown on TV. The site that was previously an international airport was a wasteland, it was almost impossible to notice that these two things were on the same location. " _Until now, 328 people are confirmed to be dead and 74 are missing..._ ". Steve saw the girl's uneasiness.

"I can ask them to turn that off if you want". He suggested, but the girl didn't pay attention to him, definetly interesting considered that it was THE Captain America talking to her. The numbers that were spoken by the TV overwhelmed, numbed her senses, she couldn't focus on anything else besides the fact that she was the one responsible for all those deaths.

" _Although two terrorists groups claimed to be the responsibles of the attack, Al-Qaeda and Isis, the government has yet to declare anything about the true responsible..._ ". After the female reporter finished that sentence Stevie didn't hear nothing besides undecipherable sounds. She only managed to half-wisper, half-say the conclusion she had from those news.

"They don't know it was me". The superhero that was with her sighed, knowing that she would get to this conclusion on herself.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is keeping the investigation of the attack classified, Tony asked them for the secrecy in order to protect you". He explained though he knew the girl would not necessarily understand the severity of what was happening, she didn't need to.

"But-". She tried to say, but he cut her off.

"Hey, we know that this was set up, you're not a bad guy... trust me kid, I can see there's something really good inside you, that you want to do good things... so don't trash yourself because of these pieces of crap". His words comforted her somehow, it made her forget that overwhelming feeling of guilty. She had always heard that Captain America was a great speaker, but now she experienced it, and she had to say that they were right.

"Okay". _Silver tongue_. She mumbled mentally, the feeling of guilt still lingered in the back of her mind, what could she've done? But screw it, the girl decided that it was best to just leave that alone for awhile and eat her meal, she was very hungry.

"Good, now finish eating your breakfast, Pepper is coming to take you to your new home".

 _ **Some time later**_

Stevie was with the ginger woman known as Pepper, on the backseat of a black Rolls-Royce Wraith. The girl had learned that she stayed on the hospital for two weeks. No wonder she almost passed out when she first tried to get out of her bed. She still saw the whole situation as eerie, there was much adapting she would have to do, and she still didn't know what had happened to her mother, or why her newly discovered father wasn't also there with her. She was too distracted looking out the window at the city, she would ask it to the ginger woman once she got to the mansion, the girl didn't ask or talk much. To her, Pepper was still a stranger who only had introduced herself as Tony Stark's girlfriend. As they went trough the city the girl observed the new enviroment, everything looked so different. The buildings, the people, the weather, there was nothing that remotely remembered her of her hometown. Visiting LA was on her to do list, but she didn't know if she actually liked there. After some minutes, they arrived to the Malibu mansion. There was a mob of journalists surrounding the place.

"What the-?". Stevie spoke, surprised why there were so many people there, she wasn't used to 'high places'.

"Tony still hasn't pronounced anything about the Boston attack, it seems that these guys aren't going to give up". Pepper sighed. "Drive trough them Happy".

"Will do". The chauffeur driving the car answered. After almost running over some people they managed to get at the front door. As the girl got out of the car she couldn't help but gaze at her supposed new home, she had never seen something that looked so... fancy and big in her whole life. That place seemed to be bigger than the White House, and it was now her home.

"Would you want me to show your room?". Pepper asked with a smile, the girl nodded and munbled a ' _yeah_ '. When Stevie entered she couldn't believe that the inside seemed to be more expensive than the outside, everything looked that it was just bought from a fancy furniture shop.

"There was an attack a couple weeks ago... but don't worry evrything has been sorted out already". Pepper half-lied, they haven't catched the so called 'Brotherhood', but it seemed that they are laying low for now. She remembered how worried Tony was when they were trying to move her to LA, he called S.H.I.E.L.D. and even assembled the avengers, as he was sure something would go down, but it was more dangerous to keep her in Boston, knowing that was probably the Brotherhood's center of operations. He didn't sleep until he made sure everything was safe. Although he expected something to happen, everything went smoothly, as if no one on Earth wanted to hurt his daughter. Since they moved her, he, along with S.H.I.E.L.D. and his friends, have been searching non-stop for the organization. Pepper could never expect how much this affected him. The woman walked her to Stevie's room, she opened the black wooden door to reveal a very expensive looking room, the girl couldn't believe that was going to be hers. The blue-eyed was expecting the moment were a whole set would come out of the corner and say ' _pranked ya_ '.

"So? D'you like it?". The ginger asked.

"Umm, It's very expensive". She tried to compliment it but inside the girl didn't like it, she didn't know what she would with all that space. Her whole life had been a small appartment on South End and now she was on Tony Stark's, the Iron Man, mansion at Malibu.

"Your wardrobe was very, umm... cold-oriented, so I decided to expand it a little bit to match our weather". Pepper said while Stevie looked at the her new clothes. _Expand a little bit? It looks like she bought the whole store_. The closet was full of the most fine fabrics, from French stores whose names the girl didn't even know how to pronounce. To most teenage girls that would be a fantasy come true, but that was not her style, and even if it was, in the back of her mind Stevie wasn't buying this new reality, something seemed to be awfully misplaced or wrong, but she didn't know what.

"Maybe the fact that I blew up an entire airport". She silently mumbled.

"What?".

"Wha-? Oh, nothing just saying that those clothes look cool". A slight hint of uneasiness on her voice.

"We're not going to charge you anything if that's what you're worrried about". Pepper said trying to make the girl feel more at ease at her new home, a couple of seconds passed before she spoke again.

"Your father is in the garage, so, whenever you feel ready, you can go there and meet him, I'll be there with him". All of a suddden Stevie felt scared, she didn't know what to expect of her father, except that he was a millionaire, genius and part of the avengers, and she was just a 16 year old teenager with no perspective in life. Yup, things were turning out great for Stevie that day. Pepper left the the teenager alone in her room, she slowly walked to her new king-sized bed and fell on it exhausted, her back touching the soft mattress. She sighed, deciding what to do next, it was the moment of truth sooner or later she would have to go down the garage and talk to the father she had never met before. It sucked on a weird way, but what the hell? What could go wrong? She got up from her bed and made her way downstairs. She was lost in what apparently was the living room, she had to admit that the balcony had the most gourgeous view of the beach.

"Now where's this garage?". She mumbled to herself.

"Downstairs, at the end of the corridor to your left". A British voice answered her, startled by the unexpected response, the girl looked around looking for anyone that was with her, she could've sworn she felt no one's presence.

"Who's there?". She asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am the house's computing system". Stevie was still looking around trying to find where was this voice coming from. "I am responsible for taking care of the mansion". The girl spotted a metal square attached to the wall that seemed to be where the sound was coming from. She slowly approached it like it was a rare bird who could easily fly off the expensive window. "Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, J.A.R.V.I.S.". She tapped the square twice not expecting any reaction from it.

"Umm, hi Jarvis, I'm Stevie". She said with a tone that showed amazement, she had never seen anything like it before. "I would give you a handshake or something if you had a hand, I mean, there's not a robot version of you around, is there?"

"Not exactly". He replied. "It is a plesure to meet you Stevie, since you'll be taking residence here, would you mind if I recorded your biometrics?".

"Umm, sure". She answered, although not exactly sure what he wanted to do. "And how would you do that?".

"Just walk a couple of steps back". She did as he asked and a blue light beam scanned her from head to toe. After he finished the process, multiple holograms with informations about her displayed around the girl, she was looking at all of them surprised that he got this much information about her through only a light beam.

"Stevie Hansen, height: 1,72 metres, weight: 64,61 kilograms, hair color: black, place of birth: Boston, Massachussets, date of birth: September fourth of 1998". He spoke trying to collect the key details to remember the new resident and not accidentaly activate the defense system that would turn her into a crisp late at night if she decided to go drink some water at the kitchen.

"Well, that's not creepy at all". She said not liking the idea that she would apparently live with a robotic C.I.A. agent.

"You've been granted level 2 acess to the mansion, here's your keycard". And suddenly, a small card came out of a slot on the metal square.

"Level 2 acess?". She replied not knowing what did that exactly mean.

"Level 2 acess grants you permission to enter every space on the mansion at all times, with the exception of the armory". He explained.

"Alright, cool". She said while she put it in her pocket. "So, where did you say the garage was again?".

"Downstairs, at the end of the corridor to my left".

"Well, thank you and have a good day".

 _ **Meanwhile**_

When Pepper got to the garage, she felt the most characteristic smell when Tony was depressed, alcohol.

"You smell like shit, don't you think it's time for you to take a shower and get some sleep?". He ignored her commentary, he has been working on finding the guys who caused all that chaos and pain, there was no time to waste on 'taking a shower' or 'getting some sleep'.

"I still can't believe you didn't go with me to meet your own daughter". She spoke to the dark-haired man. _This again_. He nagged mentally, the past weeks had been the most stressful he went through. Not only trying to find any clue about this so called 'Brotherhood', making new suits of armor, since it was most likely that the few information the villains got on him could be enough to best him if it came to combat, getting S.H.I.E.L.D. to listen to accept his requests to not let this case spin out of control and leak that it had been his daughter holding the bomb that killed hundreds and, most of all, mourning the loss of Maya. He didn't feel like it was he the one to blame, but there was this feeling, this certainty, that he could've done something to save the woman. And about the girl, he just wanted to make sure that she could live a normal life, away from all this shitshow that she's been dragged to. He wouldn't break the promise he made to the scientist, he would keep her safe no matter what, the thought of having Maya actually haunting him scared Tony in a certain way.

"Are you even listening to me?!". Stark was brought back to the moment.

"I'm sorry if I had been working non-stop trying to find the guys who killed her mother and exploded an airport full of people!". He replied.

"Yes, you should be, it's been weeks since you haven't found one single trace of these guys, not even that, but you also couldn't even take an hour off to say hi to her... or tell me that you love me". The last sentence made Tony stop whatever he was doing. She was right of course, after all, what was he doing anyway? Was he really working or was he only running away from the problems that he needed to care of right then? He would be fooling himself if he said that his work made progress, the Brotherhood haven't show up anywhere else, he had no idea what they were planning or what was their goal, Stark didn't know where to start. Whoever was behind all this seemed to be a ghost. The man sighed in defeat. _Damn_.

"Yeah, you're right... I love you, I should really get some rest". He rubbed his face that had dark circles around his eyes.

"Wait, can you say that again?". She teased him cracking a smile.

"Don't overdo it". He replied chuckling.

"Just promise you'll relax a little, okay? You don't need to do this alone".

"Yeah, I promise, it's just that... I think I'm afraid of what they can do next".

"Whatever they do, you'll be ready, you're the iron man". In an attempt to shrug all that worry off, he tried to smile at her comment. He liked when he was being complimented.

"Hey". Pepper spoke again sitting on his lap like lovers would, she then whispered. "We're together on this, now come here". And she then kissed him, making he glad that he had someone like her in his life. Stark then felt a presence, they both broke out from the kiss and noticed a teenage girl standing there watching them.

"Oh please don't stop because of me, it was hot". Both adults embarassed, tried to recompose themselves. "If you guys want I can get a camera then post it online and shit". Pepper held a chuckle.

"So Stevie, this is your dad". The woman said. Suddenly the atmosphere got very awkward between them, nor him or the girl knew what to do. Stevie thought of telling a dick joke, but she doubted that it would help. Tony looked at Pepper, trying to get a hint of what to do, the only thing he got was gesture she made with her head telling him to get closer to the girl. They both awkwardly did that, he held out his hand for a handshake while speaking uncomfortably.

"So, erm... hi". Stevie looked at his hand and then his eyes, and then she felt this force taking control of her, it made her involuntarily boost forward into one of the most intense hugs she ever gave. She had finally met her father after 16 years, and all of sudden, the whole awkward atmosphere went away. Her head buried in his chest felt so natural, it felt like she was just hugging her dad, like a normal girl would do. For a moment Tony was taken aback, but he then let himself into that hug, stroking her hair. Never, on his entire life, did he felt or even expexted that awesome feeling. He looked at Pepper, his expression telling her ' _I'm fucking doing it_ '. The woman was truly emotioned, she was holding both her hands over her mouth, whether to control a giant smile that was forming on her lips, or to hold tears of joy, she didn't care.

"Goddamn dad". Her voice muffled. "You smell like shit". The smell of alcohol was pretty strong, but for someone who constantly explored Bonton's sewers, his was easy

"I guess so". He replied chuckling, after that they broke out of the hug but still holding each other on their arms.

"So, care me to show me the crib?". She said pointing behind her.

"Alright". He let go of her, walked a couple steps back, made a douchy face just like popstars would do and started saying. "Hi, I'm Tony Stark, welcome to my crib".

 _ **Some minutes later**_

Stevie was a little tired of walking around that humongous house. For a moment she thought of bailing, but Tony's acting like a stuckup playa kept her going. Poor thing, little did she know that he was actually like that.

"And here is the second floor where you'll be staying". She had already been there, so she was more interested on a very expensive looking vase that was on top of a stand. The emerald like color was calling to her, her finger needed to touch it for some reason.

"If it breaks you'll be the one who's paying". He said, she quicly moved her hand away of the thing afraid of breaking it. "Just kidding". _Asshole_. She replied mentally. "Go on break it". She awkwardly pushed the vase out of the table. The expensive crystal ornament shettered into hundreds of tiny shards. Seeing it break made Stevie relax a little bit, it gave her the feeling that she was now part of that house and could do whatever she wanted inside of it.

"That a girl".

"I think she might get pissed, about this". She remarked.

"As long as you don't tell anyone". She chuckled, if it was her mom she would be having the scolding of her life.

"By the way". Stevie spoke. "Where's my mom?". _Oh fuck_. Tony cursed mentally, she was missing her mother. _Of course she, is why wouldn't she?_. "I mean, I'm just a little bit worried, she didn't show up at the hospital and she's not here either". The millionaire was thinking of a good lie, it wouldn't be smart to tell about everything Maya was hiding her from. If she knew about the Brotherhood and all that other stuff would she believe it? How would she react? What could he say? 'Hey,so your mom was murdered by a couple of gunmen working for the same evil organization she worked with, by the way you know that bomb you set off she built it too'. He needed to protect the scientist's memory and also keep his promise, to keep the girl safe no metter what the cost would be.

"Umm". He started. "Sometimes there are things that, umm... you know life can be like a". He tried to find the words to break the bad news, but he was failing miserably. She opened up a smile and joked.

"Are you still drunk from earlier?".

"She died".

"What?". Stevie asked not really understanding what he said.

"Your mother she died a couple weeks ago when you were in the hospital".

"You shouldn't joke about things like that, you know?". She replied in disbelief, but as moments went by, what he said was revealing itself not as a joke but as a statement, and when she realized it her heart skipped a beat.

"Oh my god". She whispered. "You're not joking... you're not joking". She repeated it, as if it was going to make him burst out laughing saying 'I got you'. And the she would go and hit him in the head and call him an asshole, but instead what he spoke next (the only thing he could speak), sealed the deal.

"I'm so sorry". And as he finished, Stevie hugged him and started crying on his shoulder, she felt the salty tears slipping down her cheeks. Tony tried to os something to say to comfort the girl, but he had no idea what to say, so he just kept hugging her as tight as he could.

"How?". She asked, her voice pained by the news.

"It was a car accident". Tony replied almost automatically.

"Who?". Her voice now an angry whisper, threatening to burst into furious screaming, to explode just like the bomb back in Boston.

"I told you it was an accident, there is no one to blame, it could've happened to anyone".

"Not if you had been there from the start". What she said felt worse than when he was hit with Mjolnir. And she was right of course, there was surely something he could've done.

"I'm sorry". He managed to say."I'll have to leave for a couple days for some meetings, if you wish we could go to the graveyard and-".

"I need some time alone". She cut him off opening te door to her 'atificial' bedroom.

"Sure". He said and left her there. Good fucking job Tony. He cursed himself. After a couple moments, once the girl noticed no one was aroud anymore all that anger she kept inside came out. She started kicking and punching the poor pillow non-stop with her teeth gritted and yeling thngs like 'I hate you' and 'you're so annoying. Apparently she was speaking to the universe that manage to fuck her over so many times.

But of all things, what happened next left her even more shocked, literally. Suddenly, a blue spark of electricity coming from the lamp hit her left arm, immediatly stopping her frenzy.

"What the fuck?". She said in surprise, then another came from her cellphone that was on top of a dresser. Instead of being burned however, she felt more alive, like when she was jumping across buildings. She gestured to the lamp and another spark struck her. The blue sparks were dancing around her hand. It looked like she harnessed them, and when she least expected her whole room did the same. Everything that had electricity started unloading their energy on her like she was a human lightning rod. Stevie never felt so alive before, she could feel the electricity running through her veins. She couldn't withstand all the adrenaline, her body felt limp and she collapsed on the floor, blacking out.


	5. New Resolution

**Author's Notes **

**I'm sorry again for taking so long, but at least chapter is rocking 4344 words. It's been really hard for me to keep up with the agenda since I've been busy with a lot of stuff (most of it envolving school). But now I FINALLY got some time to keep wriing. I'll keep trying my best to write these chapters faster. Enjoy the story ! :)**

 **I do not own the right to Marvel's characters they obviously belong to Marvel.**

 _ **New Resolution**_

Stevie groaned as her eyes opened, she rolled her sleeves, examining where the bolts of electricity had struck, she found no scars, no signs that she was electrocuted. Except the fact that things were knocked down, indicating that it did happen. The girl, baffled, looked at her hands as if it weren't hers.

"What the hell? That should've killed me". But she was alive and well, feeling nothing different. And then another question raised on the back of her mind, how long had she been laying on the floor there?

"Hey Stevie, you there?". Pepper slowly opened the door and saw the girl sitting on the floor looking at her own hands. "What are you doing on the floor?".

"Oh, nothing". She quickly responded.

"So Tony told me that he already talked to you about your mother". After she finished her sentence, Stevie's astonishment turned into melancoly.

"Yeah, he did". She quietly responded.

"She was buried...". Pepper paused for a moment, she never expected to deliver these kind of news to a girl that didn't even finish highschool. "Only me and Tony were there".

"What do you mean? What about her coworkers? She worked all the time, surely someone there at least showed up, it has been how many weeks now?". The girl was starting to get tense, did it mean that all that time her mother spent working instead of her weren't recognized by the people who worked with her. That thought only made her angrier and angrier.

"There was this old man that called, said he was a priest". The woman tried to remember what was his name, she only knew it was Russian, she couldn't forget the accent.

"Father Pyotr?". The girl asked livening up a little.

"Yes, he said he was so sorry for you, he seemed to be pretty relieved that you were alright". A small smile formed on Stevie's lips, a not so uncommon thing to happen whenever she had memories of him.

"Yeah, he is an old friend of mine, he's always cared about me".

"Call him when you get the time". Pepper suggested, if there was someting the girl needed then was a friend, too bad this friend was on the other side of the country.

"Yeah". Stevie simply responded, her voice tired.

"So". The woman paused, she never expected to ask a teenager if she to go see her dead mother. "Would you like to, you know". The redhaired didn't know much else to say. The black-haired only nodded in response.

 _ **Some time later**_

The sunset was pretty even if the sky was polluted, it painted the green fields with an orange tone, the trees of Los Angeles National Cemetery swayed with the wind. Stevie had been staring at the white stone that showed the exact letters that composed her mother's name for the past two minutes until she finally spoke, she didn't know if the woman, who was keeping her distance out of respect, was hearing or not. The dark-haired girl spoke just because, because she wanted to speak something even if it was mumbled words. It was better than that gloomy silence.

"It's a shame you know? She always promised more time with me, something like a roadtrip, something a normal kid would do with their parents, and I always looked forward to it, and now that she's gone I...". The girl stopped there, tears that just formed, threatened to escape her eyes. She then felt a pair of gentle hands comforting her tense shoulders.

"Sorry". The girl mumbled.

"It's okay". Pepper answered. After some seconds the teenager placed the flowers she brought on the white tombstone.

"So is that how it works? You come, you stare at a tombstone, thinking about the moments you had, you act all emotional, drop some flowers... and then you just leave?". Stevie wasn't so experienced in funerals, the whole thing seemed wrong. How could it end like that? Without even having an opportunity to say goodbye or farewell? Pepper just nodded in response, understanding the girl's grief. "I wish there was something else to do on these things". Stevie said.

"Me too". The woman replied. The girl then turned around and started walking away, never looking back at the white stone with her mother's name. During her way back to Stark's mansion, she tried to shrug off memories of her mother and occupy her head with other thoughts. She eventually found something interesting to think about, what happened earlier in her room. And she thought about it as both females drove trough the City of Angels, and the more she thought the more she didn't know. They stopped at a red light and waited for it to to turn green so they could go their merry way, when Stevie looked out the window at some workers who were trying to fix a bent utility pole. It seemed like a car had bumped into it, the image made the girl feel uneasy somehow, but she didn't know why. The red lights turned green and Pepper started to drive again, but she then abruptly stopped the car startling the girl.

"What the-". Before Stevie could yell something at the ginger for doing that, she looked ahead, there was a woman in front of the car staring at their general direction. The whole scene was very bizarre, the latino woman, probably on her twenties, looked as if she saw a ghost, her pupils dilated showing clear signs that she had a lot of adrenaline on her blood. But her stare is what scared Stevie the most, she was looking right at them as if they were the last people she was ever going to see. Also she seemed to be very high on some drug, given that she was struggling to stand, probably heroine? Stevie didn't know, she had seen some junkies back in Boston but never really met them. Pepper honked, telling the woman to move over so she could keep driving. The third female obeyed and got out of their way ending that creepy situation. Once it did, the girl lost herself on her thoughts again about what happened earlier in her room. _Meh, fuck it_. Maybe she had dreamed it all she said to herself mentally, it was the best answer she could come up with.

"We're here". Pepper said, bringing the girl back to the moment. Stevie hadn't even noticed that she was already home and that it was already dark. When the redhaired woman opened the door she was greeted by a good-looking Tony Stark wearing some fancy clothes, too fancy for staying home.

"What is the meaning of this?". Pepper asked.

"So I've decided that we all need to know each other better, and what better way is there than having a nice dinner?". He explained.

"Sorry but I'm really not in the mood for going out tonight anymore". The girl answered.

"And that's why I brought...". He then grabbed some paperbags written 'Barrel & Ashes Burger' on them. Both females looked at each other and shrugged.

 _ **Some minutes later**_

"And that's why you don't ask an Irish to watch over a construction site". Both adults laughed after Stevie finished her story. Tony's phone started buzzing on the coffe table, he moved his arm to get it but was interrupted by the girl.

"Let me get it for yo-". As Stevie went to grab the phone she accidentaly knocked over the glass of coke soaking everything near it including his phone. "Shiii- I'm sorry". He slowly grabbed it trying not cause more damage to the touchscreen device. He looked at different angles studying if it had any way of redemption, his face didn't show much hope, curiously enough it was still buzzing.

"It's fine". He responded, and then got up still careful with his cellphone. "I'm going to see if there's any way to save it and then I'm going to return this call, be right back".

"I'm going to grab something to clean this". Said the redhaired, also getting up.

"I can help". Stevie said, her tone sounding more like an apology.

"Don't worry, I got this". And with that the girl was left alone in the living room some of her french fries soaked with soda.

"Ahh fuck". She muttered because of her clumsiness, while at the same time leaning back in order to get relaxed. They had mostly finished their meal save for some burger and french fries. Not knowing what to do to pass the time, Stevie stared at the table dripping with soda. The girl then remembered what happened earlier to her in her room. She had thought about it the whole way back and still didn't get an answer, she had also remembered what happened at the hospital when she touched the water. The puddle of soda on the table suddenly got a lot more interesting to the girl. _What if?_. She thought while looking at her own hand in front of her, she then looked back at the puddle that was calling for her. _Do it_. A voice in her head said, very similar to the dark figure of her coma dream. Stevie didn't resist, her arm involuntarily reaching over to the wet part. As closer she got to it the slower her arm moved, as if what she was about to touch was a hot piece of metal or would cause some explosion. The girl took a deep breath and her right index and middle finger touched it. And suddenly small sparks of electricity were dancing on it, like someone had dropped some kind of battery in it, it was the same colour from the bolts of electricity in her room. Her eyes widened as she quickly took her hand away, the sparks going away with it. _What the?_. She then touched it again and the blue sparks turned again to continue their random path. They all came from the region where her fingers were touching as if she was causing them. Stevie couldn't help but smile, all of what happened earlier in her room was confirmed, it was real. Her ecxitement was converted in a whisper.

"No fucking way".

 _ **Late at night**_

The girl layed on her bed, her room dark, but her eyes wide open. Stevie was looking at the ceiling thinking, trying to come up with answers for the many questions she had in mind. What happened to her? Did she have superpowers? How did she get them? How could she use them? Should she use them?. The girl grabbed a pillow and pressed agaist her face to muffle a scream. In a single day, she woke up from a coma, discovered his dad was the Iron Man, her mother had died, and that she potentially had superpowers related to electricity, it was so confusing she was surprised her mind hasn't exploded already.

Stevie got up, sitting on the edge of her bed, resting her face against her hands. All of a sudden she got an idea, she immediatly turned on the lights of her room and looked for her bag. When she found it, she opened it looking for the flashlight she used when she would explore Boston sewers.

"Gotcha". She smiled while looking at the old flashlight, she didn't remember where she got that old thing. Maybe she stole from one of the workers down at the sewers or bought it or just found it laying somewhere. The girl started to dismantle the object until she got the part she wanted, the small lightbulb responsible for the light. She placed all the other parts on the dresser, turned the lights off and returned to her bed holding the small lightbulb as if it was a precious diamond.

"Alright, and Stevie said let there be light...". She held it in front of her with both hands not sure what she was doing. "And there was...". She pressed it carefully, tensing her shoulders, and then... there was nothing.

"Okay, okay". She muttered. _Attempt numero dos_. She thought, now she focused on the tip of her fingers."Go superpowers". Nothing.

"Superpowers go?". She tried again, nothing.

"To the infinity and beyond". Nothing.

"Shazam?". Nothing. Stevie sighed, frustrated.

"This is fucking useless". She said as she threw the small lightbulb on the other side of her bed. She leaned back on her pillow as she sighed in frustration _. So much for having a little bit of fun_. She said mentally. And with that she closed her eyes and tried to drift away on her sleep.

 _ **Next morning**_

Stevie opened her eyes still tired. Yesterday she had slept like crap due to the adrenaline she got trying to make her imaginary superpowers work. She knew they were real and she knew she had them, she couldn't have just made all this up right?. However, the only thing the girl wanted was eggs and bacon so she shrugged the thoughts away as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Good morning Stevie". Stevie was startled by the digital butler, she had forgot about him.

"Oh, hey Jarvis, slept well?". She said out of politeness.

"I am programmed to watch over the mansion at all times, so it's not possible for me to 'sleep' as you humans say".

"Could just have said 'yes I did Stevie'". The girl silently mumbled annoyed.

"Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts woke up and left earlier, they said they didn't want to disturb you since you were asleep".

"Oh, okay". She responded.

"Also the weather outside is sunny and about 84°, a perfect day to go to the beach". The butler continued.

"Right now all I want is some eggs and bacon".

"Given that you had woken up from a coma yesterday, it would be much more advisable for you to have some fruits instead of high calories". _Now he says what I'm supposed to eat, this guy's worse than my mom_. She mentally said, while she was going to open the fridge to grab the ingredients. When she tried to open it, Stevie was surprised that it was locked.

"As I said it would be more advisable if you eat fruits and more organic foods instead".

"I need my eggs and bacon Jarvis!". The girl exclaimed.

"What you need is to stay healthy since you were in a coma for weeks". The machine responded.

"Just open the fridge so I can get what I want for my breakfast, you piece of-". The girl said with her teeth gritted due to the amount of strengh she was using trying to open the fridge.

"Just do what the girl said Jarvis, eggs and bacon is good for the body". A voice from behind her spoke, Stevie turned her head to spot a rather bulky man in a suit, his short dark hair an indication that he was no longer on the glory days of youth. Stevie had no idea who the guy was but if she had to guess, he would be on his 40s.

"Fine, but if she eats too much of them she will end up with your... Physique".

"What is wrong with my Physique?!". The man said insulted, Stevie finally managed to open and she then immediatly grabbed the ingredients to make her breakfast before the digital butler could lock it again. Jarvis didn't respond the man's complaint.

"Wanna help with that?". The guy offered.

"No I've got it, thanks". The girl said as she placed everything she grabbed next to the fancy stove.

"Hi my name is Harold Holgan, but you can call me happy". Holgan said offering his hand for handshake, which Stevie accepted. "So, I'm the bodyguard around here, you need anything you come to me".

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Stevie". She replied while trying to figure out how that fancy stove worked.

"Here". He offered, pressing some options on a touchscreen, and then turning it on.

"Thanks for the help with him". She said pointing to one of the metal plaques from where the butler's voice came from.

"Don't mention it, this robot can be a pain in the ass some times". Stevie sighed, now knowing that the butler could be a nuisance, Happy held a small chuckle from the girl's reaction and started to leave."If you need anything just give a holler". The girl just waved goodbye as she returned to her task. She wasn't very good at cooking but she knew how to make one tasty breakfast. After she placed her meal on a plate she walked to a table that had a gorgeous view of the sea below. Jarvis was right, it was a perfect day to go to the beach. A sunny day like that was rare back in Boston. Her thoughts were interrupted by the flatscreen TV across where she was sitting.

"Although more bodies were found this morning, many are still missing, some experts even question if some of this people were in the attack on the first place". The image of a destroyed airport was being displayed on the screen, an airport Stevie knew too well. She grabbed the remote control and changed the channel. The girl could not bear seeing that image knowing who was the one that caused it. _It wasn't you fault_. She kept repeating it in her head, but it didn't change the fact that many died, and the bomb that killed them was on her hands. The channel the TV was on now showed images of a car accident. Given that her mother had died from one, that wans't also a nice thing to be watching. The next one was news of some group of Middle Eastern terrorists, which name she couldn't pronounce very well, beheading some civilians. Does this thing has anything nice to show?. She thought, while changing to another channel.

"Police has found the body of a woman this morning near 26th Street, Santa Monica". Oh good another one. The girl thought, while she grabbed te remote control again, but before she could change the channel the image of the victim displayed on the screen, making the girl's eyes widen in shock. "It's believed that the victim is Keisha Martínez, 21 years". The dark hair, bronze skin and brown eyes, there was no mistake, the woman that died was the one that stood in front of their car staring both females.

"Keisha was suspected to be addicted on a new kind of heroine that has been circulating Los Angeles". The woman in the TV continued. "It seemed that she was owing money to a drug dealer, not being able to pay her debt, one of the thugs seized the opportunity when he found his victim alone, although there's no solid evidence of the identity of the woman's killer, the LAPD suspects it might be a member from a local gang from her neighborhood". Stevie couldn't hear what the woman said next since she was completely lost on her thoughts. That woman, Stevie was indeed one of the last people that woman would see. Stevie was one of the last people that woman would see and the girl was completely oblivious to what was really happening. And what if she could do something? What if she could save her? Stevie then looked at her hand again, remembering what she had. _It's crazy_. She thought, but it was now clear what should be the purpose of those powers, that's what she should do with them, right?. _To make the world a better place_. She repeated inside her head.

 **Some hours later**

The girl was walking barefoot on the beach, she had never done it before, it was sandy. She could feel beneath her feet it shifting, still warm from the sun, she could feel the breeze coming from the sea hugging every part of her body. It was her first time and she loved it, where was Malibu her whole life? She thought about having a swim, but given her new 'state', it probably wasn't the best idea. With time she could maybe control her powers and it wouldn't be a problem anymore. Even though it was a bummer it didn't bother the girl, it was getting dark anyway and soon she would have to head back home. As she strolled down, a guy called her out.

"Hey there!". He said trying to be the most charming possible, he had tanned skin a well defined abdomen and blond curly hair, he seemed to be maybe two years older than her. "Never seen you around, you new here?".

"Yeah, I'm new, I'm from Boston". The girl answered with a little bit of distrust on her voice.

"Boston, huh? Cool man, that's cool, my name's Chad". _Of course his name is fucking Chad_. She mentally said. "If you ever get bored on a Saturday night, head down there". He said pointing to abig house where there was some teenager on the porch drinking what it looked like to be beer. "All kinds of stuff there, from the good old pot to the more.. 'hyper' stuff, if you know what I'm saying, so what ya say huh?".

"Sure, I'll think about it". She said as she started to make her way back home.

"Hey, can I know your name?". He asked.

"Bye dude". She hollered walking away before she got into a conversation about legalization of marijuana. Even though California seemed cool and all, Stevie coouldn't help but feel out of place. Maybe all she needed was time to adjust to her new life, or maybe she just needed to get high with Chad. _Definetly not the latter_. She thought.

 _Later that night_

Again, Stevie couldn't sleep, but this time it was nightmares. Sixteen years and she still had nightmares. It was that dark figure again, taunting her, challenging her to unlock her hidden power. It kept doing it until...

"I told you I can't!". She exclaimed waking up from her sleep.

The girl took a moment, it was just a dream. She wasn't back in Boston, there wasn't a dark figure talking to her, so why bother listen to it? But still it didn't change that something was going on, something transforming. The dark figure told her in her sleep to try to light that small lightbulb like she tried the night before. _You need resolve_. She remembered it saying, she had one, to make the world a better place, but even with that in mind, she lacked a real reason, motivation. Up until now nothing compelled her to pursue it, everything worked against it, she didn't have powers, she had a job... she had her mother, she had a normal life. But the world took it all away and gifted her with something else after that bomb exploded. She got up from her bed, with that thought in mind, and sttarted to look for the small lightbulb, surely she still had it somewhere in her room.

"Ha! Found it". She said looking next to her shoes.

She sat on the edge of her bed, looking intensely at the small object on her hands. _Focus_. She thought. Stevie remembered what the dark figure told her. That she needed something to fuel her desire to change the world. Wanting wasn't enough, she needed to feel deep under her skin why she was doing that. The girl closed her eyes. _You want motives? I'll give you_. And then she thought about the news on the TV, the civilians that were beheaded by those terrorist groups, the people that died on that car crash... she thought about Keisha Martínez, the woman that died moments after she stared at the dark-haired girl with desperation on her eyes... she thought about the boy that tried to steal her backpack an year ago back in Boston that probably could never move again... she thought about the people that died in the airport, their cries and screams as they burned and the whole building fell down on their heads and no one could do anything to help them... and lastly, she thought about her mother that died without being able to say farewell, the image of her tombstone in her head. And all these thoughts made her feel a mixture of anger, fear, grief, and it made her more fiercely desire to make the world a better place. And then she felt a light hurting her closed eyes, she opened them to see the object lighting a big part of her room. She was astonished, in awe, she was doing that. Her electrical superpower was doing that. Because of her distraction the light flickered and she dropped it, turning her room dark again. She looked around where it could be, once she found it she let the energy flow through her hands, slowly lighting the room once again. It was diffiicult to keep the energy constant, so the light alternated from being strong to weak, but it was a significant progress and before she could notice, small sparks (like the ones that appeared when she placed her fingers on the puddle of soda) were dancing on her forearms, she stopped holding the lightbulb and looked at them. She was admiring their beauty, how they lit up the room with a blue cold light, and it hers to control. And the thought hit her head, she had superpowers, real life superpowers like the superheroes she saw on the TV screen. She couldn't help but shout.

"This is so FUCKING awesome!".


End file.
